Fresh off a stunning win over Rootstown in the 2015 OHSAA State Dual Wrestling Tournament Region 19 final on Wednesday, Kirtland entered the Chagrin Valley Conference Championships over the weekend with the goal of taking home the Valley Division championship.
The Hornets ended up placing fifth overall and second to Independence in the Valley.
“We’re disappointed as a team we didn’t do better,” said Kirtland coach Scott Francis. “We had a few guys who weren’t able to compete like we wanted to. We had a couple were taking the ACTs and a couple weren’t feeling good and between that we just didn’t have the right stuff to come out on top.”
Senior Clayton Davidson was the lone Hornet to win an individual championship. He won the 160 pound title to become a three-time conference champion.
Davidson earned a first round bye then pinned his next two opponents to set up a rematch with Perry’s Evan Schenk for the championship. He won that match, 5-3, to improve to 32-0 on the year.
“It was a good match between them just like the first time,” Francis said. “Clayton was able to get back points on him and that was good to see right there that he was able to pick it up to another level.”
Senior Mike Calvert finished second at 132 in his first full tournament of the season. Calvert returned from an injury in time for Wednesday’s regional duals and put together a strong performance in the CVC tournament.
He used a pin and a major decision to advance to the championship match, where he dropped a 6-5 decision to Aurora’s Danny Novak.
“He wrestled last week for the first time in probably a month or so,” Francis said. “I was really happy with what we saw from him. If he had wrestled the whole year who knows how that match goes.”
Senior Dylan Diemer also finished second. He earned a first round bye then pinned his quarterfinals opponent and be Chagrin Falls’ Desmond Maddox, 5-1, in the 220 pound semifinals. Aurora’s Brian McNamara pulled out an 8-1 decision in the finals.
“He definitely hung in there,” Francis said of Diemer. “That was a close match until the third. McNamara had to work to beat him. Dylan hasn’t done a whole lot of wrestling over the years. He’s going off a lot of natural ability and he’s doing very well. Every week he’s showing big improvements.”
Brendan Williamson rebounded from a 6-4 semifinals loss to Kenston’s Christopher Pavone, who went on to win the tournament, to finish third. He beat Perry’s Erik Somogyi, 6-4, in the consolation semifinals and topped West Geauga’s Adam Williams, 7-2, in the third place match.
“Pavone wrestled a good match against him,” Francis said. “It wasn’t that Brendan wrestled a bad match, Pavone just scored more points.”
Senior Mike Petterson reached Saturday’s morning’s 113 pound semifinals but had to forfeit that match as he was out taking the ACT. He returned in time to advance in the consolation semifinals then pinned Independence’s Luke Swauger for fifth.
“I thought he would have had a real shot to win that semis match,” Francis said. “I don’t know how he would have done against Brady Toth from Perry (in the finals) but I thought he had a real good opportunity in semis.”
Senior Evan Francis finished sixth at 138 after medically defaulting in the consolations.
Daniel Jahnke (120), Blake Andonian (126), Chris Brown (145), Chris Sakenes (152), Micky Tutolo (195) and Dylan Choe (285) also competed for the Hornets.
Team Standings:
1. Perry 227.5, 2. Aurora 215, 3. Kenston 181.5, 4. Independence 132, 5. Kirtland 113, 6. Chagrin Falls 100, 7. West Geauga 99.5, 8. Painesville Harvey 94, 9. Cardinal 93.5, 10. Orange 74, 11. Cuyahoga Hts. 61, 12. Wickliffe 59, 13. Beachwood 55.5, 14. Hawken 42, 15. Berkshire 39
Medal Match Results
106: 1st – Pavone (Ken) dec. Kumher (Ber) 10-5, 3rd – Williamson (Kir) dec. Williams (WG) 7-2, 5th – Somogyi (Per) pin Rayner (CF) 2:46
113: 1st – Georgian (Ken) dec. Toth (Per) 9-5/ot, 3rd – T. Mast (Car) tech. fall Stennet (WG) 17-1/4:41, 5th – Petterson (Kir) pin Swauger (Ind) 4:31
120: 1st – Brezovec (Aur) major dec. DeMarco (Haw) 9-1, 3rd – Herbuck (Ken) pin Bellismo (Per) 4:24, 5th – Nevison (Car) pin Brown (PH) 4:59
126: 1st – Whitelaw (Aur) dec. I. Mast (Car) 13-7, 3rd – Kitay (Bea) dec. Meyer (Per) 14-7, 5th – Miller (Haw) major dec. Billie (Wick) 10-1
132: 1st – Novak (Aur) dec. Calvert (Kir) 6-5, 3rd – Neikirk (Car) pin McClain (PH) 3:58, 5th – Milner (Ken) dec. Parker (CH) 12-7
138: 1st – Vetturini (WG) pin Regalbuto (Ora) 1:25, 3rd – Gavin (Aur) major dec. Gedeon (Per) 16-7, 5th – Pavone (Ken) over Francis (Kir) by forfeit
145: 1st – Kirsh (Oran) dec. Spino (Ind) 9-2, 3rd – Romano (Per) pin Stuber (Aur) 0:49, 5th – Verbic (Ken) pin Horacek (Wick) 2:31
152: 1st – Sbrocco (Per) dec. Hadick (Ind) 6-4, 3rd – Monturi (Wick) pin Huff (CH) 3:42, 5th – Renton (CF) pin Richter (Ken) 4:08
160: 1st – Davidson (Kir) dec. Schenk (Per) 5-3, 3rd – Brown (PH) pin Powers (Ora) 2:17, 5th – Clymer (Ind) major dec. Woodall (CH) 16-7
170: 1st – Sicker (PH) major dec. Malone (CF) 10-2, 3rd – Frygier (Ken) dec. Miller (Per) 5-2, 5th – Lovell (Aur) major dec. Sia (Ind) 11-2
182: 1st – Senick (Ind) dec. Bialosky (Bea) 7-5, 3rd – Hopkins (CH) pin Bizjak (Aur) 2:15, 5th – Orzen (CF) pin Moore (WG) 2:22
195: 1st – Kremiller (Per) pin Fornaro (WG) 2:43, 3rd – Spruce (Ken) major dec. Suchovsky (Aur) 14-6, 5th – Haavisto (Wick) pin Albaugh (Bea) 4:26
220: 1st – McNamara (Aur) dec. Diemer (Kir) 8-1, 3rd – Vandeweel (Per) dec. Maddox (CF) 4-3, 5th – Angelori (Ken) pin Fry (WG) 1:21
285: 1st – Burger (Aur) pin Truhn (Per) 2:10, 3rd – Deely (Ind) pin Troyer (Car) 4:47, 5th – McGarvey (PH) dec. Dawson (CF) 9-2
